Tag Archive: Live

Hi there! So, I was suddenly very inspired by this song, and had a sliver of time that I didn’t need to use studying, so I thought this would be the perfect moment to write a blog post! So, I want to review the song Take Me Through The Fire by Machine Head, off their album Bloodstone And Diamonds (2014). Here are the lyrics. (Also, much to my annoyance, the recorded version of the song is not on YouTube, so for the video, I hope you can enjoy the live version, and if you want to listen to the recorded version, you can do so on Spotify here). Enjoy!

As I said, I was just suddenly struck by inspiration, and this was because of the guitar riffs, that are just so magnificently great. Rob Flynn sounds like he is in such despair as he gnarls the words “The drum beats on as I fall in trance / Stepping away from the endless dance”. Flynn has a rough, raspy voice through the whole of the song, making it sound more angry. The drum beats makes the song perfect for perfect head-banging and generally this song is awesome to see and hear live, as the audience definitely get carried away. I get carried away just by listening to this in my living room! The steady drum beat almost counting up to the chorus is incredibly effective, building up to the chorus. I also just love the chanting before the bridge to the guitar solo, and of course the guitar solo itself is amazing. This is just simply a well composed, really heavy metal song, just what I needed right now.

“No subtleties truth is all that I askNo pleasantries you can take off that mask”
(Take Me Through The Fire – Machine Head)

Hi there! It’s been a crazy few weeks now, with a lot of stuff to catch up on for me. I’ve been so lucky to have attended 3 concerts this past month, and I thought I would share it all at once for you. (This post has been almost a week in the making already, so now I will just publish it to you).
The first one was with Chevelle, Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold. It was just incredibly awesome. I tried to take some pictures and film a bit, but my phone is such a mess, that it was poor quality and the short videos I filmed on Snapchat were all ruined, so I have no footage what so ever of Disturbed and Chevelle, which is quite dissapointing. I enjoyed myself immensely though, and didn’t spend a lot of time trying to film or take pictures anyways, as I feel it is more important to enjoy the moment while it lasts, not look at it afterwards and wish you had payed more attention. I was so incredibly tired afterwards, after shouting and singing along, headbanging and raising my fists and making devil horns.
We entered the concert hall just as Chevelle was about to start, so we got to enjoy the entire sets of all the bands. Chevelle got the mood up really quick after standing in line freezing and bullied by people trying to get in front of us. They delivered a short, but well composed set to get the party started. I really wished they would have played “The Red”, though, as I really like that song and would have loved to hear it live. Anyways, they really delivered and got everyone in the right place for a night of metal.

There was quite a wait between bands, and I get why, because between the epic pyro show Disturbed displayed, and the huge cube floating above our heads with images and lights that Avenged Sevenfold had going on, not to mention the epic, ginormous space suit they had in the back of the stage floating around, I guess the technicians had A LOT to do to rig it up and down. David Draiman was unfortunately a little sick, so he held back a little singing some of the songs, and you could tell he was not at his best, but he still knocked it out of the park for me. He’s really dedicated to the job and his fans for going through with the concert. He still hit all the right notes on The Sound Of Silence, which was as magical as I imagined it would be, with people holding up their cell phones with lights on. A really beautiful moment. The thing with people holding their cell phones with lights in the air repeated itself as David asked people to do so only when he sung the words “the light” in the song The Light, which was also created some quite beautiful moments with a magical atmosphere. And, as I mentioned, the pyro show was incredible, and even though I stood a bit far back, to be able to see the stage and not be squished to pieces by the crowd, I could still feel the heat from the flames very well. I can’t imagine how Mike Wengren (the drummer) had it, sitting right in it all while the flames climbed the back line on Inside The Fire. And the rest of the band, for that matter, but they could at least move around. I loved the fact that David laughed demonically at the start and end of this song, as it appears on the recorded version. The band kicked ass with jumping and head banging and making a show of it all the time, and David appealed to the audience for help singing some of the songs, and encouraged us to raise our fists and devil horns in the sky. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of Disturbed at the concert, I only filmed a little bit and the footage was destroyed, but fortunately a friend of mine which I attended the concert with gave me permission to use one of her pictures.

Avenged Sevenfold was even better this time than the last, and I heard and saw them a lot better now than I did in 2013, when my friend and I stood a lot closer. Pretty much all we saw were people’s backs and the lights. This time I got to see quite a lot of what was happening on stage, and there was a catwalk the band came down to sing and play on many times. They opened the concert by putting on Rocket Man by Elton John, and Space Oddity by David Bowie in the background, before entering the stage and playing The Stage, with the music video showing in the background. I think that was a genius thing to do, considering their latest album is a science concept album.

At some point during the concert, there was a surge of people moving perfectly, so that only short people were aligned in a straight line from me to the end of the catwalk, so I could see M. Shadows and Synyster Gates standing there and doing their awesomeness. It was very satisfying, until Shadows yelled out “put your hands in the fucking air!”, and then my line of sight was gone. This time around they had better screens showing what was going on on stage, so that when my feet and back became tired from stretching so much and standing on my toes, I could just relax a bit and look at the screens. The crowd sang along to almost all the songs, both when Disturbed played and when A7X played. People even tried to sing to the instrumental version of Warmness On The Soul. The crowd was even louder than M. Shadows as we all went “Ooooh, it’s your fucking Nightmare!”. I love those kind of moments, where everyone knows exactly what to do and everybody is in sync. Another great moment of that kind was when we all chanted “Hail! Hail! Hail!” in Hail To The King. I had a great time and people were generally nice, except for a couple of duchebags and almost being dragged down from the mosh pit that started right next to us, which was no fun at all. My friends and I were all satisfied and tired when it was all over, and I can’t wait to the next time I get to see these bands live, ’cause they kick ass!

Here are some pictures I took from when Avenged Sevenfold were on stage:

I also borrowed a few pictures from my friend from the Avenged Sevenfold concert:

The next concert I attended was Kvelertak, which is a Norwegian black/heavy metal band (the band name means “stranglehold”). They are currently on tour with their new album Nattesferd (“night journey” directly translated). They were awesome as well, with one of the best light shows I have seen in my life. The concert was held at the student house where I work, so I was lucky enough to get a free ticket! The front man is notoriously known for stage diving, but strangely enough he didn’t do it this time, only the guitarist did, and I got a nice shot of him being held up by the crowd on his feet, continuing to play. It was an incredibly electric mood in the place, and I really had a great time at this concert as well, and could even enjoy myself a bit more, not being forced to stand in the middle of a crowd with nowhere to go and familiarity with the place. Also, there’s a difference between 15 000+ people and 500+ people. Kvelertak played amazingly well, and people had a good time, some people even crowd-surfed.

My pictures from Kvelertak:

The final concert I went to this month was quite another story. It was with the pop band Sweet Like Chili, which is fronted by two of my friends. It was a very intimate and moving concert, there being only about 20 people (excluding the band), but it would have been quite a different mood I think, if there had been any more people. I really enjoyed that concert too, but in a completely different way, as this was a sitting-concert, with mellow sounds and delicate, yet powerful voices. I also love the fact that they write their lyrics in English, which makes them more relatable, and it makes this band much more open to international audience. I hope you would check them out and give them a chance, even though I know my audience, and know that this blog hasn’t exactly been super-positive to pop in the past. I might just be a little biased, as I know these people from childhood, and want to support them as much as I can. But don’t write them off at once, I can recommend Pavement, Ghost, Don’t Tell, and What We Give Away (Cheap). Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures, I was just caught up in the moment, but I might see them again before long, and maybe I will remember to take pictures then and post them here.

Anyways, I had a blast at all these amazing concerts with all these amazingly great musicians, and it’s going to be very hard to top this year with something greater than I have experienced this past month.

“Like your face getting forced to the floorWhen either way, you’re way too close to it all”
(Face To The Floor – Chevelle)

“I’ll have you knowThat I’ve becomeIndestructibleDetermination that is incorruptible”
(Indestructible – Disturbed)

Hey! Been working on this post all evening/night, and finally done, I don’t want to wait any longer to publish it. Inspired by Loudwire’s list of 10 unforgettable crowd participation moments (which you can find here), I wanted to make a list myself. It contains my favorites, including many of the suggestions made in the comment section on YouTube, which, in my opinion, were far better than many of the one’s on Loudwire’s list.
This is in no particular order, so don’t come complaining about that to me. I’m doing it this way because many of them are equally great in different ways, with their own qualities and moods which they evoke.

So, here you have it. I personally think these are just as good or even better than the list Loudwire made, even though several of the ones on Loudwire’s list were great (I couldn’t just copy it either, could I?). I could go on and on about things you should notice, like the band’s reaction to the fans, or the sheer loudness and harmony of the crowd. This kind of interaction between artists and fans is an extraordinary phenomenon.
I want to know what are your contribution(s) to the list, what do you think I should check out? Are there even better versions of the artists and songs I’ve chosen? Please leave a comment below.

Good morning! (or at least for me, this time of day is morning). Just thought I would share a video I came across, which excites me and I think is great.

I love Disturbed, so this was just a special treat for me to stumble upon on YouTube. As you can see, the audience loved it too. For reference, this is Nine Inch Nails – Closer, U2 – Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, The Who – Baba O’Riley, and Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name.
I’m not going to comment any more on this, I just wanted to spread the joy. So, please enjoy and have a good day.

“You get me closer to God”
(Closer – Nine Inch Nails)

“I have run, I have crawledI have scaled these city wallsThese city wallsOnly to be with you.”
(Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2)

Hey there! So, suddenly inspired and after checking that I didn’t do anything with this song before, I chose today to write about Weight Of The World by Evanescence. The song was published on the album The Open Door in 2006. Here are the lyrics. Listen and enjoy.

The intro is really rocking and cool, and I like the sound of Amy’s voice when she sings “Feels like the weight of the world, like God in heaven gave me a turn”, it sounds almost distorted, I think it’s really cool. I also like the choir, especially in verse two, the wailing sound fits the song perfectly. Amy’s vocals are rocking this song, and the most awesome feature in this song is the incredible falsetto voice she goes into towards the end, and what’s more incredible is that she does that live as well! The whole song is influenced by the attitude in Amy’s voice, just awesome. The lyrics are a little dark, and seems even darker by the sound of the song. The riffs are rocking too, and the drums… you hear it even better in the live version how cool it is. It’s brilliant.
So, here is a live version of the song from Rock In Rio 2011, hope you enjoy this as well, it’s such a great performance.

“Feels like the weight of the worldLike all my screaming has come unheard”
(Weight Of The World – Evanescence)

Hey there! Okay, so today’s post is not going to be the conventional kind of blog post… I just had to share with you this pearl of a clip of Evanescence that I found on Twitter (and also retweeted, of course!), which I personally loved. This is Disappear off their album Evanescence (2011). So, I’m not going to comment on Amy’s amazing vocals and awesome playing of the band, even not the crazy, surprising and cool guitar solo, because I know you can hear it, I’m just posting this clip and saving the comments for a later occasion. Listen and enjoy!

“Don’t you want to feel?Don’t you want to live your life?How much longer are you gonna give into the fear
I can’t go on pretending
So give me something real
No one in your way but you
How much longer are you gonna give into the fearHolding you down ’til you disappear”
(Disappear – Evanescence)

Hi there! So, as you all may know, yesterday was Valentines Day, but I really didn’t feel like, nor have the time to do a “romantic” post, so instead, I’ll do you one better, by writing about a song by the band I love the most! Yes, this time I’m writing about Imaginary by Evanescence. The song was published on their album Fallen in 2003. Here are the lyrics. Enjoy!

It actually took me a while to get used to this song. I couldn’t understand the lyrics, and because of that I couldn’t fully enjoy it. Now, on the other hand, I get them, and I really like them. Amy’s voice is strong, simply impeccable, as she sings these words of deeper meaning. The band is great, with awesome guitars, the piano, the strings, the beat. It just rocks so hard.
And… as a little treat for you, I added the live version of Imaginary from Anywhere But Home (2004). Hope you enjoy this awesome piece of well-constructed sound as much as I do!

“I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refugeThe nightmare I built my own world to escape”
(Imaginary – Evanescence)

Hello there! Yep, it’s time for another song by Halestorm! This time it’s Break In off the album The Strange Case Of… (2012). Here are the lyrics.

The melody of this song is very beautiful. It’s a very calm and sweet song, compared to the rest of Halestorm’s repertoire, and so good. Lzzy’s voice is much more vulnerable when not accompanied by rough guitars and drums, but still very powerful. The lyrics are so sweet and great, well written.

I really wanted to show you a special live version of the song that was performed on every show of the Carnival of Madness Tour last year. You see, since both Evanescence and Halestorm were on the same tour, Lzzy and Amy Lee decided to work together on this song. Here you see the (in my opinion) fantastic result of the collaboration:

“You let me fall apart without letting goThen you pick up the pieces and you make me whole”
(Break In – Halestorm)

Have you heard? No? Then I think you should. This is Evanescence’s previously unreleased song If You Don’t Mind live in Brazil, played for the first time. I think it’s really worth a listen. As much as I enjoyed the live version, I sure would like to hear the recorded version of this song. It sounds absolutely great, magnificent. Hereare the lyrics. Enjoy!

This was the best thing I could find, the closest you would come to the actual recorded version of the song:

I really love the lyrics and the roughness of the song, and I really hope they will publish a recorded version soon. I think it’s great and I liked it very much.

“And if you don’t mind I would like to live the lie that I will surviveAnd if you don’t mind, I would like to slip away and leave your world behind”
(If You Don’t Mind – Evanescence)

Hey! Since YouTube decided to be an ass to me today, and took away the only freaking video I had prepared for today, I’m posting a little live treat today. This time it’s Avenged Sevenfold with Gunslinger, in their “Live in the LBC” show (2008). I hope you enjoy it!

I really like this song, as I have pointed out in my previous preview about the song, so there’s not much left to say about this, except for the fact that A7X sound great live! I will definitely share more of this later.